It can hardly be said that yesterday’s «Deal of the Century» was prepared by idiots. But it can definitely be said that not only its content, but also its name, is designed only for idiots. After all, anyone who has studied at least the basics of jurisprudence, even at the high school level, knows that a deal by definition implies an agreement between two or more parties — those for whom it is intended. In the case of the so-called «deal of the century,» which was supposed to be accepted by Israelis and Palestinians, it was known from the beginning that the latter categorically rejected it. And an agreement made by one side for the other and without its consent (especially with its explicit rejection) is considered, according to the same principles of jurisprudence, not concluded or void, that is, initially without legal force.
Therefore, the Trump-Netanyahu team initially prepared a null and void deal — this is the main thing to know about the project announced yesterday.
What about its content? In principle, there is nothing in it that has not already been known from numerous leaks that have occurred over the past year. The main thing to understand is that just as its form («deal») does not correspond to its content (unilateral arbitrariness), the positioning of its content by the initiators of the deal does not correspond to its real meaning. This is true of the declarations that the «deal of the century» is based on a «two-state solution», according to which both Jews and Palestinians will ultimately have two sovereign states. In reality, however, the Trump-Netanyahu plan, or pseudo-deal as it should be called, is a rejection of the «two-state solution» as it is understood by the international community.
And not only because instead of the 1967 borders that the two-state solution envisions for an independent Palestine, the Trump-Netanyahu plan leaves behind a small enclave deprived of both real access to the sea and borders with Jordan.
Most importantly, according to the plan, even this meager territory, surrounded on all sides, would not have real state sovereignty. Namely:
— It cannot have an army;
— It does not control its airspace;
— it has no access to the open sea, being confined to the waters of the coastal strip;
— It cannot join international unions;
— it will have to accept the political and economic structure imposed by the authors of the plan, and even its educational programs will have to be under their control. (In the photo — a map of Trump-Netanyahu’s «independent Palestine»)
In addition, its authorities will have to completely disarm Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, stop supporting the families of heroes of the liberation struggle, abandon the demand for the return of Palestinian refugees, dismantle illegal Jewish settlements and recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Regarding the last point, the authors of this plan declared that the capital of an independent Palestine would be East Jerusalem, which, like the previous two points, does not correspond to reality. The real capital of the Palestinian enclave, according to the Trump-Netanyahu plan, should be the village of Abu Dis, located beyond the wall from Jerusalem, called «East Jerusalem» only to sweeten the pill for the Palestinians.
So, neither a deal, nor a two-state solution, nor an independent Palestine, nor East Jerusalem as its capital — this is the real essence of the Trump-Netanyahu plan, which opposes the real solution of two states, which implies the creation of a truly independent Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, the return of Palestinian refugees, and the removal of illegal Jewish settlements. In other words, everything that is the consensus of the majority of the international community and has been nominally recognized by previous U.S. administrations.
In exchange for giving up all of this, the Palestinians are being offered an illusory $50 billion in investments that will be arbitrarily allocated and distributed by the Americans and Israelis after they give up everything they have lived for and their generations of sons and daughters continue to live for.
Of course, despite all their differences, no faction of the Palestinian national movement will ever commit such moral and political suicide. No Arab country, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which were the targets of the plan, recognized it either. But unexpectedly — against the backdrop of its categorical condemnation by seeming ally Turkey — Qatar praised the «efforts of the United States to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict,» which illustrates our conclusions about the dual nature of this country’s policy in the region.
However, this formulation itself does not go beyond the bounds of diplomatic courtesy, which in Qatar’s case is balanced by its long-standing support for the Palestinian cause, including financial support for the Gaza Strip. More significant in this sense is Egypt’s policy, which so far has also been limited to calling on «the relevant parties to carefully study the United States’ position on achieving peace».
Ultimately, Egypt may be interested in implementing the new plan, at least with regard to the Gaza Strip, which would allow it to take control of it. And here it is worth keeping an eye on a figure like Mohammed Dahlan, who has not been heard from for a long time, but who remains an ace up the sleeve of the Sisi regime and can be brought into the game at a convenient moment.
But regardless of what happens in Gaza, the main stake in the Palestinian issue is the West Bank. And none of the real forces there will recognize Trump’s null and void «deal». This means that, on the one hand, Israel will continue to implement it unilaterally, expanding the occupation and colonization, and, on the other hand, it will delegitimize the Jewish state itself, depriving it of such grounds as international law and the support of the international community, thus laying a mine under it for the future.